That One Night
by CSIFanRider
Summary: Annabel Stevens is waitressing at a bar in New York when two detectives come into the building. Once they sit down, her night changes from a normal night, to a 'different' night.
1. Chapter 1

That One Night

I adjusted the shirt of my uniform as I took in my appearance. My pristine looking white blouse always started out looking like this when my shift started. Before I even managed to make my way to the floor, something would end up happening to it every night before my shift had ended. Maybe I should explain myself a little further. I work in a bar, as a waitress. Now before you go 'oh it can't be that bad, you're a waitress'. Well I work in a bar in New York. That change your train of thought yet? I get to work for drunks and assholes of customers every day. In New York, that's ten times worse than the normal waitressing job. You'll do whatever you can to get money, and this is what i chose as my choice of income. Surprisingly, it gets easier having to go out there and put a smile on your face when all you want to do is punch them in the face, but no! You can't do that! You have to be so damn nice to everyone that walks into the building, whether they're an obnoxious pig or an absolute gentlemen. The job does have its perks, such as being around a lot of drama and half of the time being off on holidays so I guess that's a plus side. I just have to go day by day and pray to god I don't end up decking someone in the face.

The bar is crowded, even more so on a Friday night. Some Guns N' Roses coming through the four speakers at the main bar. The usual rowdy customers are already drunk of their ass. Surveying the tables and the multiple bar stools scattered around the establishments. My eyes landed on the front door as the bell above the door had gone off. Two men had entered, both overly tall. For some reasons, I couldn't keep my eyes off of one of them, the one with black hair. My god Annabel, pull yourself together. You're at work, STOP GAWKING AT STRANGERS!

Shaking my head, I begin to make my way over to their table. When I get a closer look at the man with the black hair, I notice some sort of badge clipped to his belt. Holy freaking crap I'm ogling a cop, holy hell. MY LUCK! I finish making my way towards the two men. When I finally reach their table, both of the men looked at me as I tried to focus my attention on what they want instead of the two men or the gold badge that's shining on the mans' belt line like a neon sign on the Vegas strip. The black-haired man turned to look me straight on, and I get a good look at him and holy shit are his eyes blue. I am not kidding, his eyes are so bright you can lose yourself very easily like I just did. PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER! I take my eyes of the man only for my eyes to be drawn to the other man that is sitting with him at the table. His blonde hair mixed with brown reflects slightly as the light hits it, as if he has hair gel in his hair. The mans greyish colored eyes look at me.

"Uhh... Miss, are you ok?" The blonde hair man asked as the other man, the one with black hair looked at me as well.

"Yes I'm fine." I shook my head to get out of the 'trance' I was in. "Can I get you guys anything?"

"Just two waters." The man with the black hair responded as he held up two fingers.

"You guys on duty tonight?" I asked, writing down the order. I mentally cringed as I just realised that I asked if they were cops. Now they're going to think I'm some fucking stalker.

They both gave me a look before the one with the blonde hair responds with "I am, my friends not. How did you know we were cops?" The man questioned me.

"Just a hunch. I'll be back with your drinks in a minute." Smooth recovery... NOT! As I go to turn around, one of the men whistles to get my attention. Seriously, what the fuck do they think I am a dog?

I snap around go give the guy a piece of my mind when I find out it's the guy with the black hair and I stop my current train of thought. Wow, since it's the guy with the black hair you don't say anything. Great double standards Annabel.

Gritting my teeth, I respond to him with "Yes, may I help you?"

"Do you have a name? Cause I'd like to be able to call your name instead of calling at ya like your some sort of dog." Well I'll be damned, he actually has respect towards complete strangers.

"It's Annabel." I turn my back on them and starts walking towards the bar to get their glasses of water. As I arrive at the bar, a co-worker of mine Tanya, who I happen to be good friends with is working the bar. Since she's currently not making any drinks, she turns her bright hazel eyes on me.

"I see you got the two gorgeous men sitting at table number 6." I just smile as I duck under the counter and walk over to the area where we keep the glasses at.

"The one with the black hair, you should definitely hook up with him." Oh my god, she actually said that. Well, that's Tanya for you.

"I'm not having a one stand with a guy who's name I don't even know." I grab two glasses and begin to fill them with water and ice.

"Fine then, get his name THEN sleep with him. One night, quick and slutty." In case you haven't noticed, Tanya is a very crude person.

"Tanya, I'm not sleeping with the guy! I don't care how good-looking he is!" I grab the two full glasses of water and start making my way towards their table again. I make my way through the crowds of people to finally reach their table. When I go to put the glasses on the table, some drunk that's stumbling by bumps into me, and I spill the glasses of water on my white shirt. SHIT.

Without thinking about it, I drop set the glasses down on the table and dash off towards the bathroom, leaving them speechless. I ran off so quickly cause all I have on under this shirt is a black bra and If I would have stayed there, it would have been a disaster! Once I reach the bathroom, I lock the door and take off my shirt. Standing over the sink, I wring the shirt out as much as I can and eventually it is just slightly damp. As I'm slipping the shirt back on my shoulders, there's a quick knock on the door.

"Hey, everything ok in there?" A mans' voice comes through the door. I recognize the voice as of the man with the black hair. Wait, why is he asking if I'm ok? That's kind of creepy.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why are you asking?" As It comes out, I instantly regret it because it sounds incredibly bitchy.

"Well ya ran out of there like a bat outta hell. What's the rush?" I just have the image in my head of him crossing his arms across his chest. To avoid telling him the REAL reason, I change subjects.

"Not to be rude here but I don't know you, so there's no way In hell I'm telling you why." I hear a laugh come from the other side of the door.

"Name's Don. Now would you do me a favor and open the door slightly so I can give you a towel?" Thank god he has a towel! I walk by the door and opens to find Don with a small white towel in his hands. As I look at him and grab the towel from his hand, I notice he's looking at me wide-eyed. He swallows hard as he avoids my eyes. That's when I realise; my shirt's hanging open giving him a good view of my bra.

Hastly, I drop the towel and start to button up my shirt in front of him. He bends to pick up the towel.

"Sorry about that, I forgot that my shirt was hanging open." I'm so embarrassed that I start blushing uncontrollably. I manage to some what hide it when he comes back up.

"Don't worry about it, I've seen worse as a detective. Besides It's not like I didn't appreciate the gesture." My mouth drops open as Don sticks the towel In my hand.

"I'm kidding. I gotta get back to my friend so hope everything dries well." Don gives me the smallest of smiles as he begins walking back towards the tables. Ok, what just fucking happened? He sort of hit on me in a way. Let's not forget I showed this guy my bra and he's almost a complete stranger, Tanya would be SO proud!

I pat myself down with the towel quickly then making sure my shirts buttoned this time before heading back out towards the bar. When I get back to main area, Tanya looks at me as she raises her eyebrow with a mischievous look in her eyes. Then as make my way back towards the tables, I notice that Don and his friend are no longer sitting at their table. As I now walk over towards their table, I notice a 10 dollar bill on the table along with a business card next to it. I pick up both the money and the card. When I read the card, it has Don's name on it along with his number. On the back of the card, he wrote "Call me when your dry AND your shirts buttoned".

Smirking, I stick the card in my pocket as I continue on with my work day.


	2. Chapter 2

That One Night

I finished off my shift, the entire time thinking about the card with Dons' number on it. The note on the back of 'Call me when your dry AND your shirts buttoned' was shocking. I didn't even think he would even leave his number. Speaking of his number, why the hell did he leave it? Maybe he just wanted to make sure that I wasn't a psycho?

After my shift ends, I grab my bag then walk down the street to the wonderful place I call my home. Which it isn't half bad; it's a smaller sized studio apartment I got when I had moved from Oklahoma a year ago. It's as big as I'll ever need it.

When arrive back at home, I make a left and head towards the kitchen. I put my bag down on the counter and take off my shoes when I take the card out of my pocket. Turning it over between my thumb and my Index finger; debating in my head whether I should call him or not. He did tell me to call him when I was dry and my shirt was buttoned. Then again, I don't want to be like Tanya (not that I don't care for her as a friend) and call a guy almost Immediately after they leave.

I set the card back down on the counter and start digging through my purse to try to find my phone when it starts going off in one of the side pockets of the purse. I zip open the pocket and grab my phone out of it, answering it in the process of it.

"I'm sorry but I was about to make a call to someone." I tell whoever is on the other end of the conversation in hopes to get them off the phone so I can call Don. Yes, I decided to call him because what the hell is going to happen after today with him? Most likely nothing since I probably will never see him again, so what's wrong with calling him?

"Did you happen to be calling me?" I hear a familiar voice, which belongs to Don, respond. Ohhh shitt. Wait, how could he call me if I didn't give him my number? That's so fucking creepy.

"No, not at all..." I said hoping I played it off cool enough. "Wait how did you get my number?" I asked, curious on what his answer is.

"This girl at the bar earlier, Tanya I think it was? Anyways she said she was a friend of yours and she saw me walk after you towards the bathroom so she gave me your number. She said you would know why she did so?" He finishes it off as more of a question then an answer. I should have KNOWN Tanya was going to do that! WHY DOES SHE WANT ME TO HAVE A FUCKING ONE NIGHT STAND WITH HIM SO MUCH?!

I give my phone the death grip In my hand as I respond. "Well that was nice of her."

"Yeah cause now if you 'lose' or 'forget' my number, I can still call you." Damn, I didn't think of it like that. "Besides Annabel, I have a proposition..." He's interrupted by me getting a text from Tanya. I put him on speaker as I check the text.

New Message

From; Tanya, sent at 7:35 p.m Someone called in sick last-minute, need you to cover their shift. By the way, sorry if I 'interrupted' you and the detective ;)

Oh my god, she ACTUALLY thought I was going to have a one-night stand with him. I also get to go back into work tonight so SARCASTIC YAY!

I forgot that Don was on the other end until I heard him go "Hey, everything alright?"

Shaking my head, I take him off speaker. "Sorry but I'm going to have to cut this lovely conversation short because I have to go back into work."

"It's ok, just don't flash any other guys your bra ok?" I could tell he was barely holding on to not laughing.

"That was ONE time! Thank you though, I gotta go." Before he could said goodbye, I hung up the phone. Quickly, I put everything back in my purse and left my place and walked down the street to work. One of the situations I'm glad I live down the street from it.

I arrive at the bar and very quickly get my bag where it was less then an hour ago. As I begin to situate myself real quick before I work, Tanya comes in the back.

"You've got a visitor."

"Tanya, I know your bullshitting me. I never get a visitor during work."

"Well I'm not bullshitting you! The detective from earlier is sitting at the bar, asking for you, and you told me you weren't going to sleep with him." Shaking my head at Tanya, I walk out of the back room with my hair now up in a high ponytail.

For once, Tanya was not lying to me because sitting at the bar is Don, looking as if he is patiently waiting for someone. When he sees me come out of the backroom, he turns his eyes on me.

"Well, if it isn't the infamous bra flasher." Rolling my eyes, I duck under the bar counter and start to wipe down the counter.

"Only to you..." I meant this as he is the only one I flashed that day. I think he takes it the other way as a joke cause he says "Oooo do I feel special, see a strange women's' bra. Definitely on my Top 3 list of 'things that make me feel important."

I glare at him as I move down the counter. "Why are you even here?" I use more power as I try to get a sticky sort of residue off the counter.

"What can I say, I love this place. Besides Tanya there, over at the bar REALLY looks amazing over there. She can definitely improve that uniform." I couldn't tell if he was serious or not, since Tanya attracts the guys, mainly for... two reasons. I look at him out of the corner of my eye, and he's looking at me with a smirk on his face.

"I'm kidding Annabel, she's not my type."

"What? You don't go for the slutty, whorish girls?" I unintentionally snapped at him. This topic has always been a sore spot for me; at least with Tanya it has been.

"Woah there. Sheath your claws." I know he meant that as more of a serious matter but I couldn't help but chuckle to myself while moving back to behind the counter shortly to put the rag down and my order pad.

"Now I must go back to my job." I duck under the counter and walk right past Don.

"Don't get soaked again!" He calls as I walk away towards the tables. As I'm doing my job; taking orders, bringing them their orders, and cleaning off tables, he sits at the bar interacting with near by customers. I end working for about two hours until another waitress, Jacki offers to take over the rest of the shift. I thank her, then make my way to the backroom.

As I get closer to the bar, Don is still sitting there. Why is he still sitting there? I half expected him to leave within an hour. I notice that he's talking to Tanya, who is leaning across the bar and her face has a smile on it.

I take the long way to the backroom, which I go around the entire bar counter and enter through a 'Employees Only' door. When I get to my bag, I realise I have a giant stain on the bottom left corner of my shirt so I dig through the small area I have, looking for a spare shirt or SOMETHING to put over it. Thankfully, I found my spare work shirt I keep here just in case. Quickly, I change into the spare shirt, then stuff the other one in my purse.

I exit the spare room the way I usually enter, and Don and Tanya are still talking. He's looking at her when he notices me, and he pulls himself out of the conversation.

"Hey there." Tanya now turns her head and looks at me.

"Annabel! I was just telling Don that..." I held my right hand up to stop her from speaking any further.

"I would love to hear the fascinating details, I really would but it's been a long day and I need to get some sleep. Tanya, I'll be seeing you tomorrow and Don it's been nice seeing you." Finally putting my hand down, I duck underneath the bar and head out the front door.

The cold air hits my skin, instantly cooling it. I walk down the street towards my place. As I get closer towards home, I start getting this... feeling in my stomach, like something bad is about to happen. I don't know what caused it, this sickening feeling came over me. I've always trusted my gut feeling, and that feeling has usually been right.

Carefully, I walk up to the main entrance of my building and slowly I put my key in the door lock and I turn it. I slowly open the door and see no body lurking behind the door. I worried about nothing, GREAT JOB BEING PARANOID! I enter the building and close the door being me. As I walk up the flight of stairs to get to my floor, that feeling In my gut returns except stronger.

I finish climbing the set of stairs to my floor and I turn right to go down the hallway leading to my place. As I slowly make my way down the hall, I start hearing some sort of commotion coming from behind me. I choose to Ignore it as I for some reason start walking slightly quicker. The commotion gets louder as I now hear footsteps coming from behind me.

"HEY!" A man with a deep voice shouts out. I look ahead of me and see no one there, so I turn around assuming that the guy is talking to me.

"Me?" I ask, pointing at myself.

"Yes you. You look like her enough." The man responds, then takes a hand and reaches in his pocket. He pulls out some sort of handgun and aims it at me. HOLY FUCKING SHIT. IM GETTING A FUCKING GUN POINTED AT ME!

"Woah, what do you mean I look like her enough?" I asked, raising my hands up I the air. I probably shouldnt be talking with the gunman. since it can possibly get me killed!

"My girlfriend, or should I say ex girlfriend seeing that she left me for another man." He cocks the gun back as he keeps it pointed at me.

"YOUR SHOOTING ME ALL CAUSE I LOOK LIKE YOUR EX?" My voice raises a octive higher because of the shock.

"Pretty much." WHY THE HELL IS HE SO CALM ABOUT ALL THIS?! That's it, its official I'm going to die. I close my eyes tightly, prepared for the shot and I don't want to look at him while he shoots me and most likely kills me.

As my eyes are squeezed shut, a shot rings out...

So far, I'm liking the direction this is going as I hope you guys are too :) And PhoenixFire859 to answer your question, yes I do plan on continuing it obviously lol


	3. Chapter 3

That One Night

With my eyes still closed, I jump slightly from the shot realising that it was probably aimed for me. A few seconds pass and I'm still standing. HOLY SHIT IM NOT DEAD! Wait, if it wasn't that guys' gun shot then whose was it?

Slowly, I open my eyes and standing in front of me (with the guy now laying between us, most likely dead) is Don, with his gun still up and pointed at where the guy stood. When he sees me, he lowers his gun at and I lower my hands.

"You ok?" What kind of a statement is that to say to someone WHO ALMOST GOT KILLED?!

"I don't know, I almost got shot and killed! You tell me!" I gesture with my hands to make a point.

As Don puts his gun in his holster, he mutters "A simple no would have sufficed. Brushing some hair off my forehead, I let out a breath.

"Well if you don't mind me, I'm going to get inside and hopefully not be scarred for the rest of my life." Before I can even turn on my heels, he responds.

"You can't go anywhere; I have to call this in. Questions have to be asked, evidence needs to be collected..." He tries to continue on but I stop him. Damn, he can go from concerned about my well-being to hard ass cop in no time!

"You'll know where I'll be!" Is all I respond as I finish making my way towards my place. I close the door behind me as I almost instantly go towards my bedroom. I strip of my shirt and slip on a t-shirt. I walk out of my bedroom to hear someone knocking at my door. I leisurely walk towards my door but man is this person impatient!

"Would you hold on a second?" I make sure the person on the other side of the door can hear me. When I reach the door, I fling it open to reveal the blonde haired man whose name I still don't know and who was with Don at the bar.

"Well I'll be damned, it's the waitress from the bar. Your Annabel right?" He asks me as he looks behind him quickly.

"Yeah, and you are?"

"My bad, I'm Detective Danny Messer. I'm here to get your story on what happened, even though Flack over there gave me a ton of information." Flack? Ohh its his last name. Took me awhile.

"I was coming home from work, when the guy came up to me and said 'You look like her enough' which I later found out that he was going to shoot me cause I looked like his ex, then boom gun's pointed at me." Danny raises his eyebrow at me.

"Boom?"

"Boom." I nod my head as he just smiles slightly.

"Well that should do it, and by the way Don would not stop talking about you after we left the bar." Out of nowhere we hear a "Don't even go there Messer!" Which we both assume it's Don.

"Really?" He was talking about me after they left? Well that's flattering and wait, how do I know it's true?

"I probably shouldn't go near that topic cause Flack here is embarrassed about." You hear Don's voice go "I swear to god Danny..." He just laughs.

"You have a good night."

"You too." I smile at him as I close the door. I lean my back against it as I hear Flack go "Did ya finally leave her alone?"

"What? Jealous cause you know you couldn't talk to her?" I heard no response after that. Shaking my head, I continue on with my day...

-Later that night-

It's sad for me to say but it's damn near close to midnight and I'm no where close to falling asleep. The energy and all that happened today is still pumping through my veins, keeping me up.

I've tried reading, drinking tea, hell I even tried playing some sort of softer classical music; did not work out.

I am currently just sitting on the couch, watching some random news report when someone knocks on my door. Ok, now who the fuck could be knocking on my door at this hour?

Getting up off the couch, I make my way towards the door and look through the peep-hole and I see Don waiting on the other side. What the hell is he doing here?

I open the door and he offers me a smile. "Hey there."

"Do you realise what time it is?" Flack rolls his eyes at me.

"Yes I know what time it is; I could ask you the same thing." He gives me a once over as he takes in my jeans and t-shirt.

"What are you even doing here?"

"Wanna take a walk?" Did he just ask me to take a walk with him at Midnight. Ok, I'm soo fucking confused.

"Excuse me?"

"Let me guess, can't sleep?" I don't answer him but he continues on.

"The walking will help; trust me. Come on, what else are you going to do? Besides, why would you turn this down after I got to see what's under that shirt." He winks at me as I have the urge to strangle him. Just to shut him up, I reach in and grab my coat off the rack then shut the door behind me.

"Would you keep that to yourself? I don't need my neighbors knowing that I flashed a cop." I shrug into my coat as I follow him down the stairs.

"I don't know why you keep something like that quiet but whatever you say." I follow Don out the main entrance and we start walking towards the right. For the first few minutes, it's silent between us. The only sound is of our footsteps hitting the ground and other noises in the background. I finally break the silence between us.

"So you uh... talked about me after the bar huh?" A smile finds its way onto his face as he looks away for a second

"More like mentioned you to Danny."

"What did you 'mention' then?" He smiles again except this time he looks at me.

"I may have mentioned that the waitress who was serving us seemed to be having a bad day, so I helped her out." He came to the bathroom after my shirt got wet cause he thought I was having a bad day, so he decided to help me? That was really sweet of him.

"You did that?"

"Of course, everyone needs to be helped out on a bad day." I shut my mouth after that statement because I had no idea how to respond to that. Silence again comes between us. As we continue to walk down the street, I start getting cold despite my jacket. I rose my hands up to my arms to try to rub some heat into them.

I think Don sees me cause he starts to take off his jacket.

"Here, take my jacket." Flack tries to drape the jacket over my shoulders but I move away slightly.

"Keep your jacket, I'm fine."

"Obviously you're not, you're freezing." Again, he tries to put the jacket over my shoulders and this time I let him. When the jacket touches my shoulder, I'm instantly warmer.

"Aren't you going to be cold?" I realise that it is pretty cold.

"I'll be fine. I grew up in this weather, I'm use to it." As we take a few more steps, I start to yawn. Well holy shit he was right.

When I yawn, Don looks at me from the corner of his eye and tries not to laugh.

"Go ahead, say it. I know your dying to."

"Say what?" He tries to act innocent.

"I told you so, you said walking would make me tired and it did." Flack stifles a laugh.

"Fine, if I must. Annabel, I told you so."

"That boosted your ego a bit didn't it?"

"Just a bit." Don admits. After he says that, we make the silent trek back to my place. This time, I actually don't mind the silence between us. We reach my building and he walks me up to my front door.

When we reach the front door, I start to take his jacket off my shoulders when he stops me.

"Keep til tomorrow, I won't be needing it. I'll just pick it up later. What time do you start work tomorrow?" He asks looking down at me.

"I start at noon, why?"

"I'll just pick it up then, I should be in the neighborhood around that time anyways." I turn towards my front door and open it, then I stick both my jacket and his inside on the rack, then I close the door back up. Turning towards Don, I look at him.

"Thanks, for everything today."

"It's no problem, you would have done the same for me if I was in your position." As I think about, I would do it for him if he was me. Out of nowhere, I walk closer towards him and give him a hug. At first, he is completely caught off guard as takes a step back. Once it sinks in for him, he starts to return it. Flack pulls me closer towards him and I end up smashing my face into his side.

Just as quickly as I went in, I stepped away from him then turn towards my door. I open it then walk in. Before I close the door, I turn towards Don to give him a final look. Flack smiles at me one last time before I close the door.

I rest with my back against the door for a few minutes before doing anything. I just met the guy today and he was incredibly sweet. I mean he helped with my shirt situation, he called me, came to my work and stayed there for two hours waiting for me, let's not forget he saved my freaking life by shooting the guy that was going to kill me. The cherry on top, was him helping me sleep. Overall, he was an incredibly sweet and nice guy.

Walking away from the door, I walk over to my fridge where I take his card off the counter and stick it up on the fridge with a magnet. Then I shut off the tv and walk towards my bedroom.

As I climb into bed, I look at the clock and see that it's almost one in the morning. Wow, I spent over an hour walking with him. As my eyes being to shut, I think about how well that time was spent and how I wouldn't mind seeing him again.

I really loved writing this chapter as I hope you guys loves reading this chapter! I was going for a sweet/adorable/awesome flack and I wanna know, what do you guys think? And a shout out to a fan PhoenixFire859, I hoped you liked this chapter :)


	4. Chapter 4

That One Night

I'm woken up the next morning by the sound of metal hitting metal. Such a great alarm clock! Raising up out of bed, I glance over at the clock and it reads 8:47. I still have time before I have to get to work. I debate mentally whether I should stay in bed or get up and ready.

Getting up wins as I throw the sheets up off of me. As I walk towards the bathroom to take a shower, my phone goes off on the counter so I take a detour to the counter and pick up my phone. I see I have a text message from Connor, the owner of the bar and my boss.

New Message! From: Connor, 8:49 a.m Tanya told me you worked someones shift last night. Don't go into work today you have the day off, enjoy it.

Well shit, he actually gave me the day off. I'm surprized that he did so. Wait I don't know what to do, and Don can't get his jacket back. Great, what am I going to do? Not that I didn't appreciate the gesture but the guy's going to get cold, its New York! Wait I can just call him.

Picking up my phone, I dial his number then I hit call. It rings for a few times before someone picks up, and it's not Flack's voice that responds.

"Hello?" The man asks. Oh my god It's that guy Danny, the one that questioned me and told me Don was talking about me after the bar.

"Danny, it's Annabel. Is Flack there?" I ask, getting straight to the point.

"Annabel! He actually had the guts to give you his number, I'm shocked. Usually its other way around. Anyways, he's inside getting water. Can I leave a message?" He usually gets the girls numbers? I don't know if I should feel special or the opposite.

"Yeah, can you just tell him I'm not going to be in at work so I can't give him his jacket back." I hear a slight gasp from the other end.

"He gave you his jacket? What were you guys doing that you needed a jacket?" I swear I could hear the smirk on his face grow.

"I went on a walk with him last night and it got cold, so he gave it to me to wear and told me to keep it over night."

"Well I'll be damned, he actually did that. I'm going to have to make sure later he's feeling ok." On the other end, I hear the opening and closing of a door. Then I heard Flack ask "Who is it?" Danny responds with "The girl who you gave your fucking jacket to." With that statement said, you hear a shuffling noise as if the phone's being switched off.

"Sorry bout that, Danny decided to be nice enough to answer my call. What's going on?"

"Nothing, I was just calling to let you know I'm not going into work today so you can't get your jacket back."

"Why aren't you going in, is everything ok? Please tell me I didn't get you sick from last night." It sounds like someone is sounding guilty, and worried? Probably not.

"I'm fine, my boss just gave me the day off cause of last night."

"Ohh ok, good. About the jacket, maybe I can just come by later and get it around the same time?"

"That works with me."

"Good then I'll be by around noon, and Danny yes I feel fine why the hell would you ask me that?" He actually asked him that, didn't think he would really do it.

"All right, I'll see you then." I hung up, then I put the phone back down on the counter. I got up from where I was sitting and walked over to my dresser where I put on a pair of jeans, an old sweatshirt and some socks. Then I went on with my day.

For the next few hours I did some chores around the hours; cleaning, laundry, and I just finished cleaning out the fridge when there's a knock on the door. Opening it, I see Flack standing in front of me with a casual smile on his face.

"Annabel..."

"Sorry guess time just flew by, been busy all morning. Let me just grab it quickly." I leave the door open as I walk further into my place.

"Take your time." I walk into the living room cause I had moved the jacket there in the process of cleaning. Seeing the jacket draped over the back of the couch, I grab it then walk back towards the front door, where he's patiently standing there. I hand him back the jacket.

"There you go. Thank you again for the jacket."

"Annabel, I've already told you it was no trouble." We stand there in silence for a minute or so before he speaks again.

"Are you busy tonight?" Flack asks randomly. Well that was random.

"Uhhh I don't believe I am. Why?" Don smiles at me as he takes his hand and rubs the back of his neck slightly.

"Because a friend of mine had recommended this bar across town and I was wondering if you wanted to check it out with me.'" Flack looks down at the ground slightly.

"Sure, sounds like fun." He lifts his gaze from the ground back up to meet my eyes. Right now his blue eyes are incredibly light, as if there almost a clear light blue.

"Great, I'll pick you up at 6:00?"

"Sounds good to me, see you then." I shut the door then I turned around. Wait, did he just ask me out? Never mind it's not a date; just two friends going to a bar. Whatever the situation, I'm telling Tanya cause she is my best friend so I walk over to my phone and text her.

Tanya,I need help with something.

What Annabel? I'm in the middle of a... 'conversation' with Blake from work.

I had to laugh as I should have expected that coming from Tanya.

I'm going to a bar with the detective and I don't know what to wear.

I figured that was the only way to get her attention. sure enough, within a minute I get a reply.

Holy shit why didn't you tell me sooner?! I'm leaving right now, I'll be at yours in 20.

I set my phone down on the counter and wait for Tanya to come over.

Don had 'asked' her out and Annabel is just flat-out denying it as a date, and says it just two friends. Anyways, Next chapter will be Tanya coming over and the date/friendly meeting/outing/whatever else you want to call it ;)


	5. Chapter 5

That One Night

I swear it was only ten minutes later when there's a quick knock on my door, followed by the voice of Tanya saying "Annabel, the quicker this door opens the more I can help!' I smile and shake my head as I walk over to the door. When I open the door, Tanya is standing there beaming at me, with a pair of black flats in her hand? She doesn't even bother talking to me first she just walks in and shuts the door behind her.

"Tanya, why are you holding a pair of shoes?" I asked as I got a good look at the normal, yet modern looking flats.

"Your going to want to wear these tonight. You still have those jeans that make your legs look good?" She asks me and she sets the shoes and her purse down on my table

"Yeah, why?"

"Because I have a feeling that your detective is a leg guy, and girl you have legs! Use them for something else besides walking!"

"Ok, I'll use them for my Detective magnet today; maybe I can even get him to walk me home!" I said sarcastically.

"Exactly." I rolled my eyes. "Now go change!" She tossed the shoes at me as I barely just caught them.

"And by the way Tanya, HES NOT MY DETECTIVE!" I call towards her as I walk off towards my bedroom.

"Yet, he's not your yet!" I just rolled my eyes as I proceeded to change into the jeans and I put on the flats and man are they comfortable. I walk out of the bedroom, and Tanya looks immediately at my legs.

"He will DEFINETLY not be able to take his eyes off of you tonight." As if on que, there's a knock on the door. Before I can say anything, Tanya picks her bag up off my table and looks at me.

"I'll hide in your bedroom til you guys leave. Don't behave." She raises her eyebrows suggestively as she walks off towards my bedroom. Shaking my head, I walk towards the door and open it, revealing Flack.

"I'm sorry I'm early, I should've called."

"It's fine just let me grab my jacket." I turn slightly to grab my jacket. As I turn back around, I find that he's looking at my legs. Ok, so MAYBE Tanya was right.. When I face him fully, he drags his eyes from my legs back up to my eyes.

I shut my front door behind me as we start walking.

"The bar we're going to I've been told is amazing. Danny is the one that recommended the place."

"He seems like an... interesting friend to have." His laugh cuts through the air as we get out of my building.

"Interesting is a good word to describe him. Seriously though, Danny's a good guy. Excellent Detective, loves to embarrass other people."

"Yeah I kind of noticed." We reach what I assume to be his car. We both climb in and as I go to buckle my seat belt, he speaks up.

"Hold on, let me get that. You kind of have to get the buckle in a certain way." His hand comes over my legs and reaches towards the seat belt. As he grabs the buckle from my hand, his fingertips brush against mine. He forcefully pushes the buckle in. Don brings his hand back and it skims my upper thigh. He pauses for a moment, before sitting up right and starting the car.

"Thanks."

"No problem." The ride to the bar is rather silent, the only noise between us being the tapping on his fingers on the steering wheel and my breathing. It's about 15 minutes later when he pulls up in front of a bar. We both get out of the car, and we both head into the bar.

The bar's theme is brown and a darker orange as the workers are wearing uniforms with orange shirts and brown pants/skirts. As we walk towards a table, Flack walks a little bit a head of me and a waitress starts coming in our direction. When we pass by her, She flips her brightly colored blonde hair at Don and winks at him.

"I think the waitress is interested in you." I say as I can't help but find myself looking between the two. She bats her eyes at him. Flack finally takes notice of her. He looks at her quickly, then turns back to look at me.

"Well I'm not interested, I don't like blondes.." Sub consciously I raise my right hand to my hair to smooth it out. Don's eyes go wide as he realizes what he had said.

"What I meant to say is I don't like blondes who assume that if they wear a short enough skirt and a tight enough shirt, the guys' will just fall at her feet."

"You though Annabel, are different. Your nothing like those girls." Before I can muster up a response, he opens his mouth again.

"Enough on that subject. About the other day..." Don trails off. I tilt my head slightly to the left, curious on what he could mean then I get it. He's talking about when the guy was going to kill me but he had saved my life.

"I'm sorry." Are the only two words that come out of his mouth as his eyes slowly start drifting towards the floor.

"What do you have to be sorry about? In case you haven't noticed, I'm still standing." The corner of his mouth comes up in a grin.

"I've noticed. What I mean is _I'm sorry _that you had to see what went down. Most people don't see another person get shot down. I wouldn't be surprised if you were scarred for the rest of your life."

"Well I'm not scarred yet so I think I am doing good, so far." Saying that finally gets him to bring his eyes back up to mine. There's a small twinkle in his right eye as the light hits him just right. Don goes to respond when his eyes drift towards directly over my right shoulder. I turn around to see what has got his attention. The waitress from earlier is making her way towards our table with a flirtatious smile already plastered on her face.

"I'll be right back." I glance back at him as I stand up from the bar chair. As I walk away towards the bathroom, he suddenly reaches his hand out and grabs my right wrist to stop me from leaving.

"Annabel, I don't think you should leave me alone with her." His fingers start to curl around the side of my wrist.

"I think you can handle a waitress Don besides it will be two minutes tops." I try to pull my wrist from his grasp, but when that doesn't work I physically have to take his fingers off my wrist. I then walk towards the bathroom. I open the door to the bar bathroom and step in, ignoring the countless smells that assault my nose.

My mind starts reeling on why he didn't want me to leave. She's a waitress in a bar, and HE'S a detective. You think he would be able to handle her, but no! He had practically latched onto my wrist with his fingers. You know, maybe he knew the girl. She could have been an ex of some sort and it ended badly. Highly unlikely yet it's still possible.

Letting a breath out, I open the bathroom door again and walk out. As our table comes into view, I see the waitress just walking away from it and he has a relieved look on his face. I manage to sit back down before he speaks up.

"Thank god your back. She would not take her eyes off of me. She kept giving me this... look and it was just creepy as hell. I never fully understood the term 'undressing someone with your eyes' until now." He shuttered as if to prove his point even further. I forced myself not to laugh as I spoke up.

"Good thing I decided not to ditch you then."

"Annabel, tell me something. While Danny was talking to you earlier today, what did he say to you?" I felt heat rush to my cheeks and I remembered the conversation we had. I break out into a smile as I look of in the distance.

"Come on, tell me already." Don had a slight tone of desperation in his voice. My lips stayed sealed shut.

"Don't make me beg." He said, his voice getting huskier and deeper. Woah, that took a REALLY weird turn. Annabel, get out of that mindset NOW! I smile slightly.

"Sorry, friend to friend confidentiality." I make up some lame excuse, and from the look on his face Flack obviously didn't buy it.

"Yeah that's a load of bullshit. You just don't want to tell me."

"That may also be a factor as well." A smirk comes up on his face.

"I thought we were getting somewhere with this relationship but obviously I put a little too much hope into that."

"Aww I'm sorry to hear that, the waitress is still decently close. Want me to flag her down for you?"

"I'm good, but thanks for the offer." A few seconds later, his phone goes off in his pocket. Holding up a finger, he takes the phone out of his pocket and quickly looks at the screen. Don groans as he slides the phone back to its original place.

"Sorry to cut this short, I have to head into work." He slowly stands up from the chair. Following his movements, I begin to stand up from the chair as well.

"That's fine." I push the chair in and quickly glance at him.

"Let me drive you back, it's the least I can do."

"No it's fine, I can just take a cab or train." He raises his eyebrow at me as he takes a few steps towards me, to the point of where he is an arm's length away from me.

"You wanna play this game? Fine, you can either let me drive you home or you tell me what you talked about with Danny. Your choice." He just blackmailed me! Un-freaking-believable.

"Ok, you win. Why do you have to play dirty like that?" I mutter that last part under my breath but he still hears me.

"What can I say, it's what I do best." He lightly grabs my shoulder and starts pushing me towards the entrance.

"Eager to get rid of me now?"

"No, I've been trying to find an excuse to get out of here, and now I finally have that excuse." He continues pushing me until we get outside the building. After we get outside the building, he then continues to lead me to his car and again after I get in, he does the same thing he did with the buckle the first time.

The ride back to my place seems shorter than it did getting here. When we pull up to my building, I turn to unbuckle my seat belt and he starts speaking at the same time.

"Again, I'm sorry I had to cut tonight short. I want to make it up to you."

"And how do you plan on doing that?" I say once I unbuckle and turn towards him. A smile creeps its way onto his face.

"Where would the surprise be in that?" I open the car door and step out. Closing the door behind me, I turn back to look at him.

"Expect a call from me tomorrow."

"What if I happen to not want to expect a call from you?"

"Then someone's going to be SEVERELY disappointed." Before I can think of anything else to say, he drives off, leaving me to my thoughts. Well, that was interesting. There is really no other way to put it. This may seem off topic but I'm still trying to rack my brain together on why the waitress would make him so... creeped out. I know for a fact that's it not because he doesn't like the attention of other women due to what Danny told me earlier about the numbers. Another thing, why in god's name does Flack want to know sooo badly about what Danny and I had talked about. Now's not the night for it, I just want to hopefully sleep these thoughts away.

As I start to head into my building, my phone goes off in my pocket. Checking it, I see a message from Tanya. You know, I should have suspected that.

New Message!

From:Tanya,9:00 p.m

Figured I'd check in and see how things went with Detective, or should I say are going ;) Wouldn't be surprised if you late to work tomorrow morning!

I can't believe that she ACTUALLY sent that message. Guess I have a lot of story telling to do tomorrow.

Anyone wanna take a guess on why Flack is so... leary with the waitress at the bar? I also want to know what you guys think of this so far :)


	6. Chapter 6

That One Night

I wake up in the morning with a stiff neck, which is unusual for me. I'm not suppose to be in work for another hour or so, but I have nothing better to do. Plus I figured Tanya will want to know ALL about what happened last night, which in my mind was not much. Well, if you don't count him practically latching onto my wrist. That was Definetly kind of creepy.

I climb up out of bed and start preparing for the work day a head when my phone starts going off. I continue to get ready as I answer my phone.

"Hello?" I manage to get out as I try to get out of my tight sweatpants I wore to bed.

"Annabel, girl it's Tanya. You need to tell me what happened last night with a man who I would GLADLY have arrest me." Even thought I can't see her, I can pretty much guarantee she is fanning herself.

"Tanya, as much as I would love to I can't. I have to get into work."

"Hold up girl, you're not going into work."

"I hate to break it to you, but I am." I finally manage to get my sweatpants off and pull on a pair of jeans.

"No you're not, because I told Connor your taking care of me cause I got sick. So in reality, we're BOTH not going in."

"Tanya why in god's name would you do that?"

"Because whatever went on between you to last night is way more important then work! At least for me it is, listen just meet me outside your building in 10." She hangs up, giving me no chance to respond. Damn it why does she have to do this?

Shaking my head, I slip off my shirt and fish through my closet til I find my white sweatshirt. I put that on as I begin to make my way towards the front door. Putting my phone in my back pocket, I finish adjusting the sweatshirt on me before I head out the door and close it behind me.

I quickly make my way outside the buildings where I already see Tanya sitting in her Saturn. I open the passenger door then sit down.

"All right, what went on between you two. He stare at your legs again?"

"Wow, don't I feel welcomed. I haven't even closed the door yet and you're already asking me how it went." She rolls her eyes as I close the passenger side door.

"Ok, the doors closed so I shall continue asking. Did he say he wanted to see you again?" Tanya looks at me with a hopeful look in her hazel eyes.

"I guess in a way he kind of did. He said to 'expect a call from him'." When I look at her, Her eyes get incredibly bright and a smile appears on her face.

"Annabel, the guy likes you! The sexy detective wants you!" It was my turn to roll my eyes at her.

"I wouldn't go that far.."

"Stop denying it! Let's face the facts here. If the guy didn't like you in the first place, he never would have asked you out, no offense. Also he never would have the nerve to stare at your legs." She does kind of have a point there.

"I hope you realise Tanya, but any guy would have stared at my legs if I was wearing those jeans." As she opens her mouth to prove her point once again, my phone goes off in my sweatshirt pocket.

"I wonder who that could be..." Tanya fakes cluelessness as she looks at me. I swiftly pull it out of my pocket and answer it.

"Yeah?" I ask as I put my feet up on her dashboard and start to get comfortable in the seat.

"I don't know if I should feel wounded that you didn't remember that you didn't expect my call or honored that you even bothered to answer the phone at all." I hear the smooth voice of Don's voice over the phone. I glance over at her slightly and I can already tell by the look on her face that she knows it is him.

He doesn't wait for me to respond as he continues speaking. "Listen I called to uhh.. ask you about something."

"What do you want to ask me?" I ask, sitting up a little straighter in the seat.

"Well I was wondering... Annabel would you be in seeing me for a couple of hours today? While you're at work?" Ok, honestly that is not what I was expecting him to ask me. I have to ask the question that is popping out in my mind.

"Why do you want to see me at work? I'm surrounded by drunks and some REALLY creepy customers."

"I don't know, something bout' you in that white blouse. Seriously though, I figured the only way I'd be able to see you again is to catch you at work."

"Why not just ask me out?" I blurt out. Ohhh shit I did not just say that out loud did I? This is going to be VERY awkward.

"Well, well, well. Did you wanna go out with me again, I wouldn't blame you if you did. In fact, I'd encourage it." I can feel the blush creeping up on my cheeks. I'm silent for a minute or so until he speaks up again.

"It's ok, I won't judge you if you wanted to see me again." This time, I laugh.

"I should be at work in about 20 minutes or so."

"Great so I'll uhh see you later today?" He asks me.

"Of course, but what time will you be stopping in at?"

"Annabel, you do not know the meaning of the word surprize do you?" And with that he hung up the phone.

"So what all did you and your boy toy talk about?" I glared at her when she says 'boy toy'.

"It looks like I'll be going into work today." I open the car door and step out. Then I look at her.

"But I thought you said you weren't going into work today?"

"I wasn't, but Don wants to see me at work today." Tanya unexpectedly groans.

"Oh my lord even his name is hot." I bury my face into my hand as I close the car door. I turn away from the car and start walking back up to my apartment to get dressed for work, something I did not think I would have to do today.

Sorry the chapter was short, I am getting tired as I am finishing this up :) Flack had 'sorta' asked her out in a way so you'll guys will see where that goes next chapter :)


	7. Chapter 7

That One Night

I got ready for work and arrived there quicker then I had expected to. When I enter the building, I catch the eye of Connor who is now manning the bar. All he does is give me a knowing look as I make my way to my area in the back. Once I have everything situated, I get back to doing my job. As I start getting to some tables, I get into what I call my 'zone'. When I am in said zone, I am moving at lighting speed and clearing tables even faster. Sometimes when I am doing this, I get caught up. Like I have a feeling I will be doing rather shortly.

I'm still going at a fast past when the bar starts getting crowded with the early afternoon crowd of people. During this time, people are usually clustered around the table and are just standing around. As I moved through the crowds, I wasn't watching where I was going at one point and I smacked into someone standing around one of the tables. I hit them so hard in fact, that I had flown to the ground and my face hit one of the legs of the table that sit on the floor.

When I hit the ground, a lot of the customers are just looking at me. As I start getting up, I feel a large hand grab my arm and start to pull me up. I'm hesitant to let this stranger help me up until I hear "Easy there Annabel." Almost instantaneously I knew it was Don. Why did he have to show up now? Why couldn't he have decided to stop by later in the day?

He pulls me up and when my eyes finally meet his, he gives me an easy smile.

"You ok there? You hit the guy pretty hard. In that case, I should be checking in on him and not you."

"Thanks for the tension relief smartass. I'm fine, happens all the time." I check the floor for anything that I might have dropped. Once I am satisfied, I return my way towards the bar with him following me.

"Not that I don't appreciate you calling me a smartass but I would prefer a more.. warm nickname." I turn around with a smirk on my face.

"Fine, how about pain in my ass?"

"Ok, deserved that one. Listen I'm going to be straight forward here. I enjoyed spending time with you last night and I would like to see you again." As my mind registered what he said, I continued working. Holy shit, he wants to see me again. Maybe Tanya was right..

I go silent after he says that. I am currently waiting at the bar for some drinks that I had put in an order for a few minutes earlier.

"Annabel, what do you think?" Don asks, bringing me out of my silent state.

"I'd have to check my schedule but I think I could, so yes I guess." I start tapping my fingers on the bar to the beat of the Contemporary Rock that is playing throughout the bar.

"Great, I'll be by your place at 8 tonight." He layed his hand lightly on my shoulder before pulling it off and walking out of the bar without waiting for an answer from me. I didn't mean tonight!

I push that thought to the back of my mind as I try to get into my 'zone' again.

Remind me NEVER to do Connor any more favors, because I am currently in the bar at 11:00 at night, cleaning, alone. My shift was coming to an end and Connor had pulled me aside and asked me if I could clean after hours. I was originally going to decline the offer, then I realised I could possibly in the future cash this favor in, so I figured why the heck not?

As I am cleaning all the tables, counters, and chairs down; I have soft music playing the background so I don't go insane in all the silence.

_I know you didn't think loving me ment so much time alone,_

_Dinner for one on the couch, another movie on your own._

A sharp knock on the window outside brings my attention back towards everything else. When I glance towards the windows to see who is outside, I see Flack standing there with a displeased look on his face. Why would he have a displeased look on his face? Shit, I totally forgot I was suppose to go out with him.

I start making my towards the window when he speaks up.

"You stood me up Annabel." An unhappy tone was in his voice.

"I'm sorry, I got stuck cleaning up after work. I forgot to call you, that was my bad." He gives me a somewhat unsatisfied look as he responds.

"How long do you usually have to stay for?" Don leans up against the glass of the door. The streetlights are the only thing that are making him visible to me.

"I have to stay still at least 12:30 to get everything done, it's ok cause I have nothing better to do tonight anyways." I knew that was a bad choice of words once it left my mouth. Flack just slightly glared at me through the window.

"I don't feel comfortable you being in here alone this late, let me in." He steps forward and puts his hand on the door handle. All I do is shake my head.

"You don't need to come in, I'll be fine. The alarm system's on."

"Yeah well I'm the new and improved version of the alarm system, except I have a gun."

"Don I can't let you in and you know that." I look away slightly instead of looking straight at him.

"Listen, I am a cop. That is MY job. If that means protecting your ass while you do whatever the hell it is you gotta do then so be it. In order for me to do MY job, you gotta open this door." When he said that, his voice took a hard turn. As if he didn't want me to push it any further. I have to admit, this Flack kind of scares the shit out of me.

Not protesting any further, I unlock the door then step away from the door so he can step into the building. As I'm walking over to where they keep the system for the music, I hear him close the door behind him, and locking the door then making sure the door has been locked.

I am turning off the music when I hear his footsteps on the flooring of the bar. When I turn around to get back to my work, I almost end up walking right into him. Literally, there is maybe an inch of space between us and that's about it. I look up at Flack and I can tell I am currently under his scrutiny. His eyes where clearly looking over every part of my body. His gaze started to make me uncomfortable so I adjusted myself slightly as I looked up at his blue eyes.

"Is there a uhh.. reason your staring at me like that?" I ask as I find myself slightly breathless.

"No particular reason." He answered as his eyes kept going up and down my body. His voice was quieter then it was before. Don hesitantly raised his hand up for a second, before putting it back down at his side. He instead, decides to lean down to where the tip of his nose is touching mine. Pausing in that position for a moment, he then leans a little bit further down...

I know you guys probably hate me for leaving in that spot, But how could I not?! Haha, I promise thought the tension will be released rather shortly :)


	8. Chapter 8

That One Night

He kissed me, but first as if he was un sure of what he was doing. I would be un sure of what I was doing if I was kissing a women I barely knew. Then again, I'm almost positive he's not an absolute stranger to that concept.

He may have started hesitant, but he quickly had progressed it all while I just practically stood there. What the hell am I suppose to do? Another question, WHY THE HELL IS HE KISSING ME?! It completely shocked me when Don had, so much that I think my eyes are still wide eyed.

Out of the clear blue, he pulls away. Literally, just backs his head up and steps back. Without another word towards me, Flack walks towards the door of the bar. He unlocks the door, opens it, then walks out onto the street. He kissed me then left me completely speechless, what the fuck? You know what, maybe it was due to the fact that he had kissed me, and I didn't react what so ever so he thinks that I didn't want him to or that I didn't like it.

That's probably the reason, and let me just get this out in the open now. It's not that I didn't like it, I was just caught completely off guard and I had no idea what to do. Maybe I liked it because of the type of person he is. He was the guy who when I had 'flashed' him, didn't try to get me to have sex with him. I guess a good word that sets him apart from the other guys I've known is different.

I stood there for about 5 minutes just going what had happened before finally shaking my head out of the daze, then getting back to cleaning the bar which I was hoping would take my mind off of the kiss, but it didn't hell AT ALL.

-2 weeks later-

Ok, now I'm really starting to freak out. It has been two weeks since Don had kissed me then just walked out on me without so much as a whisper. I'm now starting to think that this had more to do with him regretting what he did rather than me not responding to it. Ever since that night, I haven't heard a single word from him nor have I seen him, anywhere for that matter. I haven't seen him around the city; at the bar. I also think he's been avoiding me. Whether it's because he's ACTUALLY trying to, or he's just trying to make me feel guilty.

I've continued on with work as usual, getting lost in the customer server business. Tanya has asked about him a few times, but something has interrupted us every time so thank god for that!

I am actually at work now as we speak, clearing and cleaning tables. I have just taken a break from that when Tanya spots me from across the room and walks over towards me. She has a small smile as she begins to speak towards me.

"Hey, I know I've asked this a lot but where has the detective been lately? I haven't seen him around." Not wanting to answer the question, I look off into the crowd.

"Come Annabel, what happened between you guys? I thought things were going well with him." Sighing, I knew she finally had me so I spilled.

"Two weeks, he came over to the bar at night while I stayed after hours and cleaned." Tanya raises an eyebrow when I say 'at night'. "That night, he had... kissed me."

"That's amazing Annabel! Damn it why didn't you tell me earlier? Did you kiss him back?" I had to laugh at her eagerness.

"No I didn't, I just stood there. After he pulled away, he left the bar and I haven't heard from him since." Tanya had opened her mouth to say something when the look on her face completely changed as if she were changing her thoughts before they even came out.

"That last parts going to change because look who just came in." She subtly points her head in the direction of the entrance. I glance towards the doors and see Don walking into the building. He practically gravitates towards one table almost directly by us. Knowing that Tanya would kill me if I didn't take his table, I quickly make my way over towards the table. When I arrive, he glances up from whatever had engrossed his attention on the table top and looks at me.

"Didn't expect you to be my waitress." He said that as if he truly was surprised.

"What else would I be doing, It's my job."

"I just thought that after what happened a few weeks ago." Getting to the point, I asked what he wanted and all he said was a beer. As I started to walk towards another table, he spoke up.

"About that night, we need to talk..." I didn't hear what he had to say as I practically sprinted towards the bar counter. I waited a minute or two for the drink to be ready since the bartender was busy. When I turned back towards the table with his drink in hand, I noticed he wasn't sitting there. His jacket was drapped over the chair so I assume he is still here. Leaving his drink on the table for when he came back in to the table.

I then started making my way towards the bathroom, just barely managing to get through the countless numbers of people blocking my way. When I finally got there, I went into the bathroom and immediately went over to the sink. As I turned it on, I leaned over the sink to splash some water on my face as I repeated _It's just him, it's just him _over and over in my head like a mantra.

After I turned the sink off and straightened up, I looked in the mirror. I saw what would be behind my left side, Don. What the hell? I snap around to make sure it's him and sure enough, it's him lurking in the background.

"We need to talk." He said as he strolled over to the bathroom door and locked it. Shit, what's he doing? "Alone, as in both of us alone." And by the look on his face, he ment business.

Don randomly showed up in the girls bathroom, that is kind of creepy I realise that just bear with me here haha :) Anyways, they shall be having a 'talk' together, and I can almost guarantee you you'll like it :)


	9. Chapter 9

That One Night

Ok, what the HELL is he doing here, and why did he lock the door? I think now is an appropriate time to be scared out of my mind.

I had my back against the sink and my arms crossed over my chest, hoping to show if that I wasn't exactly pleased.

"Don, in case your lost this is the girls bathroom. What are you doing in here?"

"I'm not in here by mistake, I'm here to have a conversation alone." I rolled my eyes as I muttered 'No shit Sherlock.'

"Look we need to talk about what happened between us a couple of weeks ago."

"What's there to talk about Flack? You kissed me and then just left, WITH NO FUCKING EXPLANATION." I kept one of my hands tucked into a fist at my left side to keep from swinging at something.

"Well you were the one who didn't react in the slightest! Last time I checked when someone kisses you, YOU KISS THEM BACK." He does kind of have point there, but am I going to let him know that? Definitely not.

"What the hell do you expect? You caught me off guard!" I started to raise my voice slightly.

"I was at least hoping for something instead of nothing! I would have even been happy if you pushed me away, well not really but that's not the point. Saying something is better than not saying anything! I left because you did nothing, I thought that since you did nothing, you wanted nothing to do with me." During the beginning of his mini rant, he had started to use his hands as he was talking. I'm just going to take a guess and say he's italian?

"Don, after that night you didn't say anything. You didn't call, stop by, I heard nothing from you! So don't talk to me about doing something instead of nothing!"

"Annabel, you're expecting way too much from a guy whowas stood up, and not even a day later was practically shot down when he kissed a girl he was hoping would react in a better way!" He raised his voice a couple of levels.

"For christ sakes you weren't stood up! I got stuck at work. Why can't you get it through your fucking skull?" I turned my back towards him as I braced myself against the counter. My hands are gripping the edge of the counter so hard, my knuckles are turning white.

"And this is where I use your own words against you, instead of waiting for me to call you could have. You could have picked up a damn phone and dialed a number. No though, you were too busy waiting for me to shelf my pride and do it when you should have done the same thing." I snapped around to face him, my anger far from dissipating now.

"Shelf my pride? Wow, that's rich coming from you. What, do you get like this when girls don't fall for the act your trying to sell." I stepped closer to him, suddenly not afraid of what he could say or do.

"Wow, I thought I knew you better than that. I never thought in a million years you would stoop low enough to call me a manwhore. That shows that I don't know really know who you are."

"It's not stooping low if it's true."

"You want to know what you are?" Don asks me as he get's up almost directly in my face.

"What's stopped you from speaking your mind before?"

"Annabel, I lied. Your just like every other girl I know. Hypocritical, Judgemental, the list goes on and on..." I didn't even respond to that one as I has raised my hand before I even knew what I was doing. It happened so fast, but what I know for certain is that my hand smacked against his right cheek and it stung him slightly.

"Who knew that you would go that fucking far with it. If you hate me SOOO much, then why the hell did you kiss me? You know what, that doesn't even matter anymore." I raised my hands up in the air slightly before putting them back down. "Want to know why? Your just like every guy that walks these fucking streets. A pompous asshole that walks around treating women like shit." He stood in front of me, a shocked look had finally registered on his face. He got what he fucking gave, that's all I have to say.

"Annabel I didn't... I just got caught up..." Flack tried to apologise, but I raised my hand up as a signal to stop.

"Save it, I don't want to see you again, ever." Without hearing another word, I stormed over towards the door and hastily unlocked it, then all but slammed the door behind me. When I hit the main bar, a few people are looking at me. And now I know we had an audience.

My eyes drift towards Tanya's', who starts walking towards me.

"What happened in there? I walked by to use the bathroom but I heard a bunch of shouting then I heard you in there..." She was flipping out.

"Tanya, I promise you I will tell you later but now I'm going home. Tell Connor something came up and I had to leave."

"Of course." She still had a confused look on her face. Then again if I was her in this situation, I would too.

I mad a dash for the entrance of the bar and once I got outside, I made a run towards my place. I got up on my floor and into my apartment in record timing. The minute I got in there, I gravitated towards my couch. I laid down on the couch and put the pillow in my face. No matter what I did, I couldn't stop the tears from falling from my eyes. What he said, hurt. Granite what I said to him wasn't any better but... I guess I just thought that he wouldn't go there and say those things about me.

For the time being, I cried into the pillow of my couch soaking the cushion. The only company I will have is the tears that roll down on my face and onto the couch.


	10. Chapter 10

That One Night

I said I never wanted to see him again, and so far it has relatively easy to do so. Ever since that night when he called me Hypocritical and Judgmental as he said 'the list goes on and on', I haven't seen his face but I have had the feeling that someone has been watching me. It may just be me paranoid as usual.

Right now I am currently at home, cooking myself something for dinner. Ever since Don said what he said, I've cooking a lot. One night I couldn't sleep, so I made brownies. It's really weird but it's apparently how I've coped.

I had just put the chicken in the oven when there was a knock on my door. I dry my hands on a towel then I walk over to the door. Looking in the peephole, I see Flack standing out there in a suit which I assume to be his work attire. Before he can notice I'm by the door, I duck from the peep-hole and sit down on the ground with my back against the door.

"Annabel come on I know you're in there. I heard you walking by the door." I say nothing cause I don't want to have to see him and open the door.

"Fine, if your going to be this way..." I hear him mutter before speaking again. "Look I know I was a major jackass, and I know you want me to apologise. I can't apologise if you avoid me" I responded with more silence.

"Just know that this far from over, that your going to see more of me." After he says that, I hear footsteps walking away from the door. Thinking it's safe to get up, I climb up off the floor.

Well, he's wrong there. Cause I don't want him to apologise because I don't ever want to see him again. And when he said that I'll be seeing more of him, I have to admit that sounds really creepy. It doesn't matter because I will do whatever I can to avoid him.

I had continued on with my evening and just when I was about to fall asleep, Connor called telling me that he forgot to take inventory of all the alcohol at the bar and that he needed me to do it tonight. So that's how I ended in the bar at this hour. I love how he other employees that can do his dirty work for him, but I'm the only one he calls and wakes up in the middle of night. Or better yet, instead of calling someone in to do it he can get up off his ass and do it himself!

I know that is about as likely as the building catching on fire, it's just not going to happen.

I was currently writing down on paper what types of whiskey we had and how much we had of each type when I heard the bar door open. That's right, I forgot to lock the door when I came in.

I turn around to tell whoever came in that were closed, when I stopped in my tracks.

The guy had on blue jeans and a black hoodie. The hood was pulled up and over his head, shadowing his face and concealing his identity. His left hand was buried deep in the pocket of the hoodie. Very quickly, he had pulled his left hand out of the pocket and in his hand was a black handgun. SERIOUSLY CAN I GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM GUNS?!

The man aimed the gun at me, his hand shaking slightly as he held the gun up to my chest.

"Give me the money, all of it." He had asked in a quick, gruff manner. I raised my hands up to show my surrender then slowly started backing up to the register. Annabel, you don't think of something quickly, you are going to get a bullet in you and then your going to die. Then I remembered the alarm button Connor had installed under the cash register shortly after I started working here.

With the barrel of the gun still aimed at my chest, I quickly backed up towards the register. When I reached it, I slowly slid my left hand down from the air. I acted like I was going to open the register, but quickly I slid my hand under the bar and pressed the button. A loud ringing started going off, as I knew the police would be notified that the button had been pressed. I ducked to hide under the bar counter, but all along underneath the counter stuff had been stored there, making it impossible for me to hide there.

The man with the gun look at the ceiling and cursed. "Shit, just fucking wonderful." Then in the blink of an eye, the man pulled the trigger on the gun and a loud bang rang out. He then flung the front door open and ran off down the street. As I turned to walk, I felt incredibly dizzy and my stomach area was getting incredibly warm. When I walked towards the mirror to see what was going on with my stomach, I stumbled and fell to the ground. When I lifted my head slightly to see my stomach, there was blood seeping through my shirt on the right side of my stomach area.

My head was forced back down by the lack of energy I had, and my I started getting labored breathes out. As I started fading, I prayed that someone, anyone would get here in time before I died. Then everything went black.

-Don's POV-

Let me just admit that what I said to Annabel, was an absolute ass hole thing to say. I never, under any circumstances should have ever called her hypocritical and judgmental because it's not true. She had me backed up against a corner, and I just snapped at her. I hate to say this but part of what she said was true. That I shouldn't have overreacted in a way because when she hadn't responded when I kissed her, I jumped to conclusions. Also in a way I think I was right (though I doubt I'm right) in a way because she could have also picked a phone. Not everything has to be up to me to do. She was not kidding when she said she was going to avoid me. When I stopped at her house, I knew she was there so that's kind of why I said what I said while I was standing outside her door, but now that I realise it it's kind of creepy that I was just standing there saying that this was far from over. I just need to NOT AVOID ME so I can hopefully apologise and get back to where the both of us were before all this.

I am currently sleeping in bed, thankful that I actually got home at a reasonable time for once. I turned over in the bed when my phone started going off on the bedside table. I let out a groan as I put the pillow over my head, hoping to block out the noise. Instead, it kept going off and I knew I had to answer. Taking the pillow off my head, I swung my arm out to the bedside table and grabbed the ringing phone. I quickly answered it just so I didn't have to hear it go off anymore.

"Hello?" I asked with a sleepy tone in my voice.

"Flack, did I wake you up?" I hear Danny ask on the other end.

"Yeah you did, now why did you call?" I leaned my head back against the head board.

"How are things with you and Annabel?" He called just to ask me that? Seriously?

"It's... complicated, why what's going on?" I sat up in the bed as I responded to him.

"Don I have some news.. about Annabel." Woah, what does he mean by news exactly?

"Messer, what's going? Don't even TRY telling me everything is ok." I completely got up out of bed as I started to slightly pace.

"She was at work when something happened, no one's quite sure what happened yet when the owner of the place had stopped by and saw her on the ground..." He paused as if he was trying to find the right words.

"What do you mean he found her on the ground?" My voice raised a noise level higher.

"Man I was hoping I wouldn't have to be the one to tell you this..." Danny muttered as I imagined him running a hand through his hair. "Don, someone shot Annabel." What? SHE WAS SHOT? How the hell could that even happen?!

"Danny back up, SHE WAS SHOT?! How the hell could that happen?" I asked as I roughly started running a hand through my hair.

"Flack as I said before, we don't know what happened yet. All we know so far is that her boss Connor came in for some reason and saw her in a pool of blood by the counter of the bar... Don it doesn't look good. They just took her to the hospital."

"Danny you NEED to tell me what hospital she's being taking to." I asked as I started to put a shirt on over my head.

"I thought you said things were complicated?"

"The last thing I said to her face was that she was hypocritical and judgmental, there's no way in hell I'm letting that be the last words I ever say to her." I scrambled to put on a pair of jeans. He gave me the name of the hospital and the address then he said "I'm sorry Flack, I really am." I had thanked him then hung up. In record timing, I got my jacket then ran out the door to the car because in this situation there is no time to spare and in case it doesn't work out, I will not have those words be my last ones to because I never would be able to forgive myself if they were.

I raced to the hospital, unbelievably getting there within 15 minutes. Those 15 minutes were the worst 15 minutes I will ever experience in my life. I didn't know if her condition worsened or even worse than that, she had died.

When I reached the hospital, I ran all the way up to the front desk of the hospital.

"Excuse me.." I stopped to take in a few breaths. "I'm looking for a woman who was brought here within a few hours, gunshot wound." The receptionist gave me a wary look as she typed a few things into the computer. When I said gunshot wound I almost got sick because the thought of that...

"We had an Annabel Stevens come in with a gunshot wound to the right side of her stomach, does that sound right?" She had asked me.

"Yes, that's her. I need to know what room she's in."

"Are you her immediate family?"

"No I am not."

"Then I'm sorry sir, but you can't see her." I CANT WHAT? I can't see her because I'm not family how the hell does that work?

"Why can't I see her?" I asked, with a harsh edge in my voice.

"Ms. Stevens is listed under critical condition. When a patient is in critical condition, only her immediate family may see her until she is listed as stable." Ohhh hell no.. There is no way I'm not going to see her just because of some fucking technicality.

"I don't think you understand, I'm with NYPD." I took out my badge and showed her it as proof. "I'm the lead detective in her case."

"Detective you still can't see her unless you are her immediate family."

"Listen here..." I was going to say more when I felt a hand tugging at my shoulder. I looked behind me and saw that it was Danny pulling me back gently from the desk. He continued pulling me back until I was away from the desk completely.

"Flack, I get your pissed. It sucks that you're not allowed to see her just because she's family, but I'm sure she's going to be fine." I ran a hand through my hair, something I have done quite often since I found out tonight.

"Danny, I just want to make it right..."

"And you will get the chance to, your just going to have to wait." I looked at Danny and knew that he was right, that I just had to wait. And that's what I did, I sat down in a chair and started the long, agonizing wait.

So I know you guys are probably going 'WHY WOULD SHE DO THIS TO US?!' But I promise you this all for a reason. This little 'angst' is intended because I think we all needed some die-hard Flack day (or night lol)


	11. Chapter 11

That One Night

-Don's POV-

Since I wasn't allowed to see Annabel, I was guided towards the waiting room by Danny. As I sat there, he filled me in on the details they had so far. That they were able to find the shell casing for the bullet but other than that, they had no physical evidence tying someone to the crime which is making me frustrated beyond belief because I want whoever did this to fucking burn in hell or better yet, have the shit beat out of them by yours truly.

Currently though, I've done what I've been doing for the past 6 hours I think just sitting there, waiting for some sort of update on Annabel's condition. I'm going to admit I'm not an overly religious person, but sitting there I prayed that she would do ok and she would make it out fine. I can NOT have my last words to be full of hate and meanness because I would never be able to live with myself if that were to happen. I also can't help but feel that this is somewhat my fault, that because I said those things she went to work to clear her head, but instead... well you know the rest.

I was brought up out of my thoughts by Danny who took a seat next to me.

"I came over here once Stella and Mac arrived at the scene to take over." Stella and Mac work with Danny at the crime lab. "You look like shit Don, how you holdin' up?" Wow, thanks for the confidence booster.

"Well I haven't punched a wall so I guess everything's ok. Not feeling any better though."

"I hate to say it but you're not going to get rid of the guilt until you say whatever it is you have to say." He raised a hand to my shoulder where he awkwardly patted it. As he did that, I happened to look off towards the left and I see a man walking towards in scrubs covered in blood. Ohh god... He finally reached the area where we were sitting.

"Anybody here for ?" The man who I assumed to be her doctor asked. I launched up from the chair and walked over to the man.

"Yes?"

"Who are you to Annabel is it?" I don't really know what to say here.

"A friend, now what's going on?" I questioned the man as I wrung my hands together.

"I was her Doctor in surgery which we just got finished with it. At first we had some difficulty removing the bullet because it was lodged between muscle and veins. As she was on the table, she flat lined..." Oh my god, she didn't die did she? As I opened my mouth to ask him, he continued speaking. "Fortunately we were able to revive her. After that, the surgery was a success." Thank God, I thought for a minute there she had died. There are no words to explain how happy I am feeling right now.

"So she's going to be ok?" I asked just to be sure.

"Well, the wound should heal up nicely but there's no telling what the long-term effects of the event be."

"So can I go see her?"

"Yes you may. Pre-warning she is still out from the surgery and if she does wake up she is going to be extremely out of it. If possible try to see if you can coax her to wake up. Your lucky she's alive." The doctor quickly told me her room number, 312 then walked back down the corridor.

I walked up to the front desk and asked the woman for directions to the room, which she grudgingly gave me for some reason. I quickly start making my way towards the room and soon enough, I found myself standing outside the room 312.

I paused outside the door of the room, suddenly un sure of what to do. Opening to the door of the room, I slipped in and closed the door behind me. When I looked at Annabel in the hospital, it was painful to do so. Her face wasn't bruised but through the hospital gown I could see the gauze that wrapped around her side. The quiet beat of her heart monitor was a constant reminder that she was doing ok.

Ever since I found out she was shot, I knew I wanted to talk to her and make things right. Now the moment has come and I have no clue where to start.

I opened my mouth, shut it, then opened it again as I finally knew where to start.

"So your here, laying in this hospital bed because you were shot. The doctor said you were lucky that your alive. Want to know what I believe?" I asked her, as if she was going to wake up and answer the question. "I don't think your alive because of luck, I choose to believe your alive because you're a fighter. You fought as you were lying on the ground, bleeding to death..." I cleared my throat because I was trying not to let any emotion show now.

"Annabel, you didn't let that guy win. You being alive just shows how much you want to live, and I can only hope the one of those reasons include me. What I last said to you before all of..." I paused to motion towards the air with my hand. "this happened was a mistake. I was afraid that what I said were going to be the last words you ever heard from me." I took a breath in and looked at her motionless, but alive form in the bed. "I didn't want those to be the last words because they were full of hate and not true. Even though these aren't hopefully going to be my last words for a while, I want you to know that..." I paused again as I walked closer to the hospital bed. I lightly reached a hand out to touch her cheek before pulling my hand back and continuing on with what I was saying.

"I want you to know that for as long as you want me to, I'll be here for you. Making sure that your safe." After I said that, I stood there for a while just watching her in the bed. She probably didn't hear anything I just said but I had to get it out. I turned around from the bed to face the door. My eyes started to slightly water as I reached for the knob. As I turned the knob, I heard an almost silent groan come from behind me. I snapped around to see her right hand twitch slightly.

_-Annabel's POV-_

_All I saw was darkness, but I could hear everything going on around me. Was I dead? Or just un conscious? As I started to debate this in my head, I could faintly hear some sort of door open, then close quietly shortly afterwords. Silence followed that noise for several minutes until I heard a familiar voice start to speak._

_"So your here, laying in this hospital bed because you were shot. The doctor said you were lucky that your alive. Want to know what I believe?" Holy shit that was Don speaking, but why is he here, wherever here is? And why did he pause? What does he expect me to do, answer the question?_

_"I don't think your alive because of luck, I choose to believe your alive because you're a fighter. You fought as you were lying on the ground, bleeding to death..." He then made a sound like he was clearing his throat for some reason. Did me getting shot, affect him more than he is letting on?_

_"Annabel, you didn't let that guy win. You being alive just shows how much you want to live, and I can only hope the one of those reasons include me. What I last said to you before all.. this happened was a mistake. I was afraid that what I said were going to be the last words you ever heard from me." So Flack admits what he said was a stupid thing to say and that it was a mistake? I am shocked though that what he had told me, was what sounded like by the tone in his voice guilt. Why though, would he not want those to be his 'final words'?_

_"I didn't want those to be the last words because they were full of hate and not true. Even though these aren't hopefully going to be my last words for a while, I want you to know that..." I heard Don pause as I feel a hand quickly touch my cheek, then pull away._

_"I want you to know that for as long as you want me to, I'll be here for you. Making sure that your safe." He really means that? Don really means that he'll always be there for me as long as I want him to, just to keep me safe? That is really sweet. I wish I wasn't whatever I was so I could respond to him._

_For a while I just heard him standing in the room, breathing. Then I heard him turn on his heels and walk towards the door. When I hear the door start to open, the darkness slowly starts to go away. The darkness is being replaced by very, VERY bright lights. The lights cause my body to groan softly in reaction._

_I can practically hear the sound of him snapping around to look in my direction. I then started to feel my right hand twitch slightly._

ANNABEL IS NOT DEAD! I bet half of you are super excited and probably the same half are wondering 'WHAT DOES SHE HAVE PLANNED NEXT?!' I can promise you that you will find out rather shortly.


	12. Chapter 12

That One Night

-Don's POV-

Holy shit is she waking up? What the hell am I suppose to do here? Wait, the doctor said to try to get her to wake up and I'm going to do just that.

I walked over to the hospital bed and looked down at her to where I could still see her right hand twitching slightly. Cautiously, I put my hand in the area of her elbow. Like an urge, my thumb started moving in slow circles on her elbow.

"Annabel, wake up." I spoke just above a whisper as I tried to coax her to wake up. Her response to me was groan again, but louder than the first time.

"That's it. Come on, open up those eyes of yours." My thumb had continue moving in slow circles as I stared down at her. My gaze slowly drifted towards her face where I saw her eye lids flutter slightly.

"Your almost there An.." An? Did I seriously just call her that. Well, it works.

Her eyes slowly open fully, then they shut again.

-Annabel's POV-

My eyes were going to open fully, but the harsh lights coming from the ceiling hurt my eyes so I closed them. The harsh lighting me visibly cringe. I then slowly open my eyes this time, letting them adjust to the lighting this time. As my eyes adjust to the room, they start to focus on a blurry figure standing next to the hospital bed. When the person becomes more clear, I can see it's Don and he's pulling a hand away from the area of my elbow. He seems to be smiling at me slightly.

"Hey..." I mumbled as I was still trying to wake up.

"Hey yourself. How does it feel to have been shot?" He asks as his voice waivers slightly. At first, I didn't know if I could answer the question since I've barely been up but that thought changed quickly when I started to feel a really sharp pain in the right side of my stomach. Instinctively, I turned over to the left a little bit then I curled myself up slightly.

"It's ok, I'll get the doctor. You'll be just fine. I gotta get going, it's..." He paused I assume to look at his watch. "7:23 a.m, which means I have to be in work." As I was curled in a ball slightly, I look out of the corner of my eyes and see him looking down at me. "I'll come and see you sometime later."

What he does next shocks me. Don leans down to kiss my head, and then he turns towards the door and walks out. Well, that was an... interesting turn of events.

As the pain increased slightly, I was hoping that he would get the doctor quickly.

-Few Days Later-

As the days went by in the hospital, the pain started becoming less and less with the painkillers the doctor had given me. He said that if my wound was healing up decently and I wasn't in a terrible amount of pain that he would let me go home. As for the whole Flack stopping by, he did. He came and saw me almost every day, except for yesterday when he said that he had a break in a case. Ever since that first day in the hospital, he has not touched me in any way, shape, or form. Not even so much as his brushing his hand against my arm. It sounds like I'm complaining, but I'm not. I'm just curious, that's all...

I had stared out the window (one of my favorite past times since I've been in here) when my doctor had strolled into the room. I immediately gave him a hopeful look as soon as he even looked at me.

"Annabel, the gun shot wound seems to be healing up rather nicely. Now has there been any sharp pain when you twist your stomach area?" I told him that there was pain, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it was before.

"Well, I think your ready to go home. Just be sure that you take these..." He filled out for a prescription. "Whenever there is pain that you can't deal with. Also, you are not allowed to lift more than 7 pounds for now, and gradually we can work back up to the normal amount you were able to lift."

"Doctor could you call..." I couldn't finish my sentence as I was interrupted by him.

"By the way, there's already somebody waiting in the lobby to pick you up. He works with the NYPD too." Don, you know I should have guessed. "I'll send in a nurse to disinfect and gauze the wound before you leave, and if needed she'll help you get dressed too." The doctor left the room and a nurse quickly came in. She did what she needed to do with the wound and she helped me get the clasp of my bra snapped on since I couldn't reach it.

After that, we both walked out (more like she walked and I sort of hobbled) out of the hospital room and towards the waiting room.

When I got closer to the waiting room, I could see Don with his back against the wall and his arm crossed waiting for me. When he did see me, Flack moves from his position on the wall to me the nurse and I half way. Once they made their little hand off of me, we both started to walk (again I hobbled) towards the hospital entrance.

"So tell me, how does it feel to be free?" He asked as we wallked side by side. I let out a short laugh before responding.

"You make it sound like I was in prison. Anyways, glad I guess. Somewhat excited to get back to work." Don paused as we got right outside the entrance of the hospital.

"Annabel, are you that's the smartest thing to do? I mean you did get shot."

"Now that you think about it, probably isn't the smartest thing to do." Little did he know, I wasn't going to tell him that I would stop by work.

"Listen I know you may not be happy about this but... I want to stay with you for the next couple of days just to make sure that everything goes ok. I haven't been shot, but I've been blown up so I think I can help." Wait, he was blown up? WHEN was this?

I raised an eyebrow to hopefully explain my confusion but all he said was "Remind me to show you the scars later." He gave me a quick wink before he continued walking and I followed him.

"Sure, you can stay for a while."

"Well that was easy. I'm going to have to ask more often." I looked at him as all he did was smirk slightly. Don started walking ahead of me as all I did was shake my head. Next few days should be interesting.


	13. Chapter 13

That One Night

The ride to my place was in uncomfortable silence. Well of course there's going to be complicated silence when the guy who is driving you home from the hospital AFTER you got shot is sort of, maybe, kind of into me. That right there, will make ANY conversation awkward.

As we had finally arrived back at my place, he turns towards me.

"I have to uhh... get into work so just head upstairs and DON'T get into trouble." I slightly smile as I get out of the car. I then turn back towards him.

"Don't know how much trouble a girl can get into with gunshot wound on her stomach."

"Exactly my point. I am really not in the mood to arrest someone I'm interested in." With that he drove off down the road, leaving me completely speechless on the sidewalk. Did he really just say he was interested in me, then drive off? Who the hell does that. Apparently he does! Well I don't think that he'll be interested any longer when he finds out that I'm going into work when he told me not to.

Then again, he doesn't dictate what I do. If I wanna go into work then so be it.

Instead of heading upstairs to my place where I should be, I take the brisk walk to the bar down the street. As if I thought he would come back at any minute, I quickly check the streets then I slip into the bar. Apparently after me getting shot and the robbery, they swung back into gears quickly. It's not as packed as it usually would be on a Thursday afternoon.

As my eyes sweep the place, I hear a girlish high-pitched squeal as my eyes and ears focus on where the noise came from, by the bar. All I register is a blur as a mass comes towards me and gives me a bear hug. When the figure slows down, I notice the 'blur' is Tanya.

"Oh my god, you're ok! I've tried to get to the hospital to visit but I've been swamped by Connor with work related stuff..." She takes a deep breath in as she goes to continue on when I interrupt her.

"Tanya, it's fine. Besides Don just drove me home from the hospital today..."

"So your still seeing the detective? Even after that little screaming match you guys had?"

"I don't know Tanya." I sighed as I sat down in a nearby chair. "It's still kind of complicated because while I was lying there in the bed, he apologised for what he said but it still hurts. Then he says he's interested in me and drives to work."

"Your right, that sounds pretty damn complicated. What are you doing here by the way?" Tanya asks as she starts walking towards the backroom.

"I'd figured I'd come get the things that left here when..." I paused to choose the right words. "It happened."

Tanya gives me a look before nodding her head. "All right, anything you left here is going to be in your area in the back."

I walk back there, people I pass by give me looks. Ignoring it, I walk to my area in the back. When I reach it, I grab my coat on the small rack but when I look at the shelf above, that's where they had put my purse. Normally it wouldn't be a problem, but since the wound on my stomach I'm afraid to reach up and grab it. I think I can get it though.

Reaching up on the tips of my toes, I reach for my purse. I can't quite reach it because of the pain now in my stomach area. Stretching my arm out as far as I can, I grit my teeth in pain as I finally get the handle of my purse in my hand. As I get back down to normal height with my bag now in hand. Fixing my shirt from standing on my toes, I start towards the back entrance because I really don't really don't want to have to deal with the people giving me looks like I'm some sort of freak.

Then again, I was shot in this very bar only a few days ago so I guess I would gawk at me to going "how the hell is she walking?"

I finally made my way through the stacks of boxes in the back to the back door that leads to the alley next to the bar. I softly swing my purse over my shoulder as I open the door. When the door hits the brick of the building outside, I look and see that I am greeted by Don. Well, guess he found out that I came here after all huh? When I look up at him, he doesn't look angry, he just looks... amused.

"Figured that the minute I dropped ya off, you'd hightail it over here." His eyes make its way down my body until they land at my side.

"Your bleeding again." His brow furrows slightly. "Let's get you home so that can be cleaned up before I head off again." Silently, we begin to walk back to my house.

The minute we get inside my place, I walk into the bathroom to look at it. Once I get into the bathroom, I strip off my t-shirt and I roll my tang top up slightly so I can look at it. The wound must have re opened, because like he said the wound has bled through the gauze and got through my tang top and t-shirt slightly. While holding my tang top with my left hand, I begin to take my right hand and start removing the gauze that is wrapped around my stomach.

With much pain, I finally manage to get it off and when I reach for a small towel, he enters the bathroom.

"Here let me get it, your killing yourself." He grabs the towel that i was trying to get and turns on the sink to let water go over the towel. Once wet, he wrings the towel out to where it's not dripping wet. Slowly, he bends down to where his eyes are level to the gunshot wound. Lightly, he starts to run the towel over the area and cleans up all the blood. For a while, it's just silent. The only noise between us being the towel coming in contact with my skin. Finally, Flack gets back up and begins to wash the blood out of the towel. As he's doing that, I reach over him and grab the roll of gauze that's sitting on my sink.

When he sees me do that, he drops the towel in the sink and reaches into my hand for the gauze.

"I've got it."

"Annabel, just give it to me. I promise it will be over before you know it." I don't give up the roll for a few seconds, so he has his hand on the gauze in my hand. Finally, I release my hold on it and give it to him. Don then moves behind me as he un rolls the gauze slightly. For some reason, he finds it necessary to be right on my back. As he's wrapping it up, his warm breath is on my neck. Not to mention that once the first layer was over it, his left hand was stationary at my hip until he was finished.

After he was finished, his right hand came over to where the wound was and tucked the left over gauze in tightly so it didn't budge or move when I turned. When he was finished, his hands stayed there, just lingering. Don eventually took his hands away and stepped away from my back.

"Everything's all good now.." Flack cleared his throat as he stepped out of the bathroom. When he got out, I put my tang top back down and slipped my shirt back on my body. I then walked out of the bathroom myself. I saw him putting his coat on as he opened his mouth.

"Ok, I'm off to work again. Please don't go around injuring yourself again. Then again that would I'd get to wrap it up again..." I couldn't help but find myself smiling.

"Nice to know that you think that why."

"Honesty is the best..." He looks at me before continuing. "If anything happens call me, or Danny. Rather have you call me, but we're not going to get into that right now." He turns towards the door.

"When are we going to get into it?" What. The. Hell? Why did I even SAY that, much less think it. It's too late to take it back now.

With his hand still on the door knob, Don turns back to look at me.

"Tonight. We'll dive right into the conversation." While he's still looking at me, he takes his hand off the door knob and starts making his way over towards me. When he get's in front of me, Flack looks at me for a minute before bending down slightly to kiss my cheek. With that, he finally is able to open the door and walk out, heading to work.

I can't believe he actually responded to my insane question about when will we talk about it. From the look in his eyes, he actually means Tonight. Now that he had said that, I am slightly anxious for what will go down tonight.

'The Talk' is happening that night! (Or in other words, the next chapter lol) Anyways thought I'd let my lovely fans that I am working on something new for when I am finished with this one (which hopefully wont be for quite some time) Have NO CLUE what the title would be, so that's a work progress!


	14. Chapter 14

That One Night

It's been really, REALLY boring since he left. Everything I wanted or want to do I can't because the doctor told me I can't over exert myself or lift more than seven pounds so that totally sucks. On top of that I have to take the painkillers which leave me so tired that I've slept for like 2 hours so far. I am about to scream at this point!

Just when I thought I was going to drive myself up a wall, there's a knock on door. Since I am so eager to see some other people, I practically run to the door and open it. Standing on the other side of the door is Danny and some other guy who's African-American.

"Hi Danny, and... some other guy I've never met before." I say, which I'm pretty sure made everything awkward cause that's me Annabel, the girl with GREAT social skills.

"I'm sorry, this is Sheldon Hawkes, but everyone calls him Hawkes. We were out in the neighborhood and I figured I'd shoot on by before I went to the gun store." I just shook my head at his pun.

Hysterical Danny, you really should think about being a comedian." I said sarcastically as I leaned against the door frame. "What are you guys doing here anyways?"

"Ask him, he made me drive you." Hawkes rats Danny out.

"I thought I would stop by since I didn't get to see you in the hospital. I blame your crime scene for that." He smiles softly.

"By the way, how's that going? Any advancements?"

"Annabel, I can't tell you that. It's policy and then there's confidentiality issues..." Danny stopped, knowing that he probably got his point across. I put my eyes to the ground and sighed softly. I just really wanted to know what all went down.

"You didn't hear this from me or him.." Danny starts as I raise my eyes back to look at his face. "We have a suspect that Don's bringing in today, guy's name is Alex Kingston. Lives in downtown Manhattan..." My eyes widen when he said Alex Kingston. I haven't heard that name in years.

"What? You know the guy?" Danny asks getting suspicious.

"No I uhh... don't." I fibbed as I looked him in the eyes. Saying that, was the biggest lie I've told since god knows when. Alex Kingston has, and always will be my biggest nightmare.

It started 5 years back in Oklahoma, where I'm from. I was working in a restaurant as a waitress when I met Alex. Quickly (all too quickly if you ask me) we started dating. I fell for his charm and charisma. Things were good, for about a year until something changed in him. All of a sudden, Alex started drinking a lot and became verbally and sadly, physically abusive. There have been way too many times where he had come home drunk, and hit me. I put up with that for about six or seven months until I just finally had it. One day while he was at work, I packed up everything I had and moved. I told almost nobody were I was moving in Oklahoma. Shortly before I came to New York a year ago, Alex had found me again. Told me that what I was doing was a mistake. He was drunk that day and came so close to hitting me across the face. A week or so after that little 'incident' I moved here, hoping to get away from him.

I was hoping I would never have to see him again. Maybe and hopefully it's just a coincidence that him and I are in the same state.

I'm brought out of my current train of thought when I hear Danny's voice.

"Well Hawkes and I better get going. Take it easy Stevens." Both of them smiled before they walked away from my apartment. As soon as they were out of my view, I shut my apartment door and practically ran to my phone. I needed to call Flack and see if he can run some sort of background check on Alex.

I quickly dialed his number and within a ring or two, he picked up the phone.

"Don here." He answered. Well obviously he didn't check the caller ID.

"Hey it's uh.. Annabel."

"Annabel, everything ok?" He asked. His tone was a mixture of worry and confusion.

"Yeah everything's good, I just wanted to ask a question."

"What's the question?"

"I was wondering... Can you or should I say are you able to run a name through like a background check system?" Great going Annabel, cause that doesn't sound suspicious AT ALL!

"As a matter of fact that's my specialty. I gotta ask though, why do you want to know?"

"You know... just had a nagging feeling in my stomach that I had to ask you." He pauses for a while before answering.

"Annabel are you sure everything's ok? Are you in some sort of trouble? If you are you need to tell me." I swallowed hard, hoping he didn't notice.

"No I'm not in any sort of trouble, just curious."

"All right then, listen I'm going to have to go. Gotta question this guy I brought in a few minutes ago. You know what?"

"What?"

"This guy Alex the one I brought in, total scumbag. Admitted to my face that he'll 'rough me up like he does to his girls'. What kind of low life asshole is able to hit a woman?" Ohh shit. I'm now caught between a rock and a hard place.

"I have no clue..." I said unsure, hoping that he didn't notice.

"Exactly my point. Be safe ok? Don't need you getting more hurt then you already are."

"I'll try."

"Better be more than just 'try'." I let out a un easy laugh.

"Just get back to work Detective."

"I'll see you later." He hung up on me. I set my phone as I let in a breath. Holy shit, this is just wonderful. My ex that was Abusive towards me is in the same state as me, I've lied to three people already saying I don't know him. On top of ALL THAT, the guy that is currently living under my roof for the time being and is interested in me, has no idea that the guy he just brought in for questioning and has openly admitted to hitting his girls, has hit me his former 'girl'. I am in some deep shit...

Do you guys agree that Annabel is in trouble up to her knees? I also wanna know, do you guys have on any predictions with Alex and Flack?


	15. Chapter 15

_At last, my long awaited return to fanfiction! Life had really come and basically screwed me over haha. I re-read all of T.O.N and I'm now determined to finished this off! Let's just get to the writing shall we?_

There's only a select few that I have told about Alex, Tanya included. Maybe if I talk to her and tell her what's going on, she'll know what to do. Who am I kidding? I don't know what to do, why the hell would Tanya know? Well, it's worth a shot.

I glanced around the room for my phone. Finally spotting on the table, I go over towards it. With my hands slightly shaking, I pick up the phone. For some reason, I forget her number. Wouldn't be surprised with what's unfolding. Then I remember that her number is 2 on speed dial. I hear the call start ringing then I put her speaker phone. After I set the phone back down on the table, I shake my hands out. This is the reason I moved from Oklahoma all the way to New York. To get away from Alex! Every time I hear his name, it causes me nothing but stress. How about next time I move, I just head on over to Cuba. No one will suspect I'm there!

After the phone's been ringing for 30 seconds or so, Tanya finally answers.

"What's going on with you girl?" Tanya answers in her usual, spunky voice.

"Shit has just hit the fan. I repeat, Shit is going down!" By the end of that sentence, I had coming from quietly speaking to shouting at the top of my lungs.

"Woah, slow your roll girl. What the hell do you mean shit's about to go down?" Me going off like this usually peaked Tanya's curiosity because in her words I was a 'Giant pile of un excitement'.

"I just heard Alex has is back in town! He has also just been picked up as a suspect in my shooting. Not only was he picked up, but he was picked up by fucking Don! On top of all of this, I've already lied to three cops about knowing him! Could this day get any worse?" I took in a deep breath once I was finished. I forgot that ranting took so much breath out of you.

"Hold up, Alex is back? Does the asshole have the deathwish?"

"I don't know Tanya, I'm just freaking out right now." I started pacing back and forth.

"Well, you have every right. The little douchebag better be praying to god right now that I don't find his ass. You said Don took him, how'd you find that out?" Tanya questioned me.

"First one of his co-workers told me, then he told me himself when I was on the phone with him. Alex said he was going to 'rough him up like he does his girls'. if Don finds out that Alex hit me, and I lied about it I'll never hear the end of it. Not to mention he'll go fucking nuts." I slowed my pace down as I heard Tanya chuckle on the other end.

"I told you he liked you." I could just tell that there was a smirk on her face. That's what she's worried about? Can't say that isn't her, though.

"That's beside the point, Tanya."

"There isn't a whole lot of help I can give you Annabel. The only thing I can tell you is to be careful alright? I don't need you going to the hospital again."

"Thanks for the concern." I tried for that statement not to come out sarcastic, so hopefully I did well.

"Anytime. Plus, hot detective man might not like it either. The more time you spend in the hospital the less time he has to seduce you." I couldn't help rolling my eyes before answering.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night Tanya." I didn't wait for her to respond to me. I reached over to my phone and hung up on her. Even though she wasn't able to give me any advice, I still was able to let some steam out with her. I'm still mulling over what she said about him seducing me. Please, I'm pretty sure he doesn't want to seduce me. Sure he said he's interested in me, but I'd be fooling myself if I said he wouldn't get over it. In the midst of all of this, I'm still unsure of how I feel about him. There're a lot of conflicted emotions inside of me.

As I'm walking away from the table, I stop myself by the mirror that's on the wall by the bathroom. My scan over myself in the mirror. They land on near the left side of my collarbone. I lift my hand to pull down the collar of my shirt slightly. Towards the bottom of my collarbone, a white scar cuts across. This would be a detail that's hardly noticeable on most occasions. I knew it was there, though. I've been covering it up ever since I got it. It still hurts every now and then. The scar came to be when one night, Alex had come home drunk. He had gotten belligerent because dinner wasn't ready when he came home. On his left hand, he wore a ring that had some sort of rough stone in the middle. He took a swing and the stone cut me.

That night is still fresh in my memory despite the days that have passed.

_~Three years ago~ _

_Alex had been home for 30 minutes or so now. As soon as he came home, he went straight to the bathroom. I assumed it was to puke out the contents of his stomach, or what was left of it. I had busied myself with starting dinner. When I heard the bathroom door slam open, I was about 10 minutes away from finishing dinner. He stomped his way into the kitchen, then stood silently in the doorway watching me. When I finally noticed him standing there, he spoke up._

_"Where the hell is my dinner woman?" He bellowed out. Alex was at the stage where his voice was just starting to slur._

_"The chicken's taking longer than I expected. It should be done in about..." He didn't let me finish as he reaches forward to grab my arm. I was spun around forcefully to face him._

_"I don't want it later, I want it fucking now!"_

_"There's nothing I can do Alex. Unless you want to get salmonella you're going to wait." I spit out, then instantly regretted it. He hated it when I gave him any source of sass or back talk. I learned that from personal experience. It was too late to take it back, or to stop him. Before I knew it, his left hand had come out and swung at my collarbone. There was sudden, sharp pain coming from that area now. Alex had hit me hard enough to knock me to my knees._

_"Don't you ever give me shit, you understand?! I work and pay the bills, so when I want my dinner I'm going to fucking get it!" He gave me a hard glare before stumbling out of the kitchen and towards the front door. Once he finally managed to open the door and leave, I picked myself up off the ground. My hand flew to my neck to check the injury. I lifted it from the wound and saw the blood on my fingers. As I wiped the blood off my hands, I let the slow, but steady flow of tears come down my cheeks._

I shake my head in an attempt to erase the memory from my head. If this isn't solved shortly, I'm in for a world of hurt. I can't imagine what would happen if Don found out. Danny finding out would be horrible as well. This must be kept a secret, no matter the cost.


End file.
